SMI Eye tracking HMD technology, that was demoed on a HTC Vive, had a prominent showing at this year's GDC. It is only a matter of time before something similar is fully integrated into the HTC Vive. The ability to track a user looking away by moving their head from an advertisement is one thing; to truly track their eyes to see how far they read the text in an advertisement before looking away is on another level of interaction. I believe a system like the SMI demo could bring this level of tracking to assist advertisers in creating better ads.

Here is a refresher video for those that missed the SMI presentations. I want to add that I hope that the ads aren't louder than the VR app they are contained within. That would not be cool. There is a reason why we are moving on from TV broadcasts to the internet for consumption of media. What do you think? Are you ready for VR advertising? Would you be more likely to buy a product or app advertised within a VR environment that on a Steam Store page?

With the VR Ad Service, advertisers only pay for an ad after a user has seen it. The service is strictly opt-in, meaning that ads will only show up in content where developers have decided to include them. On its website, HTC writes: "Ads that appear in immersive VR environments can not only provide more effective impressions, they can also track whether the users have viewed them or have turned away their gaze."